Chapter 3

Sweet nothings

She woke up at the sound of her alarm clock ringing.

"Shut that thing off, Granger!" He said angrily.

"Sorry, sorry." She said sleepily. She turned it off.

"Keep the alarms to yourself, Granger!"

"As if that's possible," she whispered to know one in particular. Turning to Draco she said, "I'll be leaving now."

"Go ahead. And let me inform you," He turned to look at her, "You wouldn't have to tell me if you're leaving or not. I wouldn't care anyway."

"I just wanted to tell you," She snapped.

"Oh yeah," He stated, "Granger, When I helped you yesterday, it wasn't because I wanted to, but because

I had to. Don't think otherwise."

She just looked at him, but said nothing.

"Pissed off," she mumbled, as she stepped out of the room and left for her classes.

While she was walking to the potions lab, Pansy approached her.

"Hey Granger," she called, "Come here."

Hermione reluctantly went to her.

"What do you want?" Hermione said.

"Draco invited me over to his place tonight-"

"But you guys are-"

"I'm permitted to go there under the promissory of Dumbledore." She snapped, making Hermione shut up, "By the way, I want no interruptions later on. Stay outside if you have to, I don't mind." She smirked.

"I have to finish some stuff tonight, Pansy… I really have to-"

"I don't care. Do it in the Library. Just don't enter your room… just for tonight, okay?" She said with her eyebrow raised.

"Alright," She stated, granting her request, "Up to what time are you staying in my room?"

"It's also Draco's room," she replied, "I'm not sure. I have to go ahead."

She left after stating these words.

Hermione then proceeded to her class. She has projects to finish this afternoon, and she just said yes to Pansy.

"Damn… I shouldn't have said yes," She thought.

The day went on the way it should be. For her morning schedule, she had her classes. For her afternoon schedule, she trained in the battlegrounds with Draco.

After their training, she went to the library to do an early research for her Herbology class. She gathered her materials for her project… and then had her dinner for 20 minutes. After eating, she went back to the Head's Dorm.

She was heading straight to her room. She nearly opened the door, but then she heard Pansy and Draco laughing as if they'll never be laughing tomorrow. They seemed so happy… together…

There was a feeling that built up within her. It was either jealousy or anger, but she denied it. After all, she had no rights to feel any of those… there is nothing going around between her and Malfoy after all…

Hermione went to the living room and worked there instead…

It was already half past eight when she finished half of her project. She was feeling rather tired already, but she kept herself awake.

"This is due tomorrow," She reminded herself as she stood up and grabbed a drink.

After drinking her pumpkin juice, she sat down on the mat once more and went back to doing her project.

She was almost done at around quarter past nine, but she was really tired and Pansy did not walk away from her room yet. She rested her head on the couch behind her, closed her eyes, and then fell asleep.

11:35 pm

Pansy was already going back to the Slytherin's Common room

"Goodnight Draco," Her words were followed by a deep kiss.

"Goodnight to you as well, Pansy. I'll bring you over to your common room."

"Uhm, never mind that. I can go there by myself. Rest now. Bye." She said as she kissed him goodnight, again.

She went down the stairs. She saw Hermione on the mat, her head resting on the couch behind her… asleep. She smirked. This was the reason why she did not ask Draco to go down anymore. He'll see her this way… moreover, pity her. She proceeded to the Girl's Headquarters, and then slept peacefully.

Around 20 minutes after Pansy left, Draco started to realize Hermione's absence. She did not interrupt them, like how she usually does… not even a knock was heard. He proceeded to the living room where he found her asleep, her hair covering her eyes.

"This is crazy," He whispered. "She could have at least knocked."

She saw her unfinished project… it was close to perfection. He gathered up all the scrap material on the floor, and then placed it in the plastic bag. Afterwards, he woke her up.

"Granger, wake up," He said as he tapped her on the shoulder.

Her eyes opened and the first thing she saw was the clock.

"Damn it," She whispered, "Sorry about the mess, Malfoy I was-"

"Why did you not tell us that you had to do something tonight? We could have given you the space."

"Your girlfriend asked me to do so."

"Pansy asked you to stay here? Why?"

"Well then obviously because both of you are staying in my room. I told her that she is not allowed to-"

"She's not?"

"You did not know that she's not allowed to enter this Dorm?? She said she was permitted by Dumbledore about this. That's why I stayed out of trouble… and did what she asked me to."

"I did not know that…" He stated, though he was starting to doubt whether Pansy was really saying the truth.

Silence.

"I did it as a favor, nothing else, okay?"

"Alright. I'm really sorry Granger. If I have been informed about this, I wouldn't have agreed to it."

"It's okay." She stated before she started adding some final details to her project.

She ended up at around half past twelve… with Draco's help.

"Hey, thanks for helping me up."

"Sweet," He whispered.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I meant… yeah, sure."

She was keeping the scrap materials on the trash bag when she saw Draco staring intently at her project.

"Is there anything wrong with it?" She asked.

"Wow, Granger. Your project is near to perfection. Assuming you'll get an A+ for this?" He complemented.

"I'm only hoping. I'm not overconfident about things."

"This is really great."

"Thanks. I never thought I'd finish."

He helped her carry her project to the room.

"Sorry if I still asked you to help… but thanks."

"Nah, I should be sorry. If not for us, you would have worked here. But yeah, same goes thanks."

"It was cool. I hope you too had a nice time." She replied.

"Yeah. We did. I missed her a lot."

A smile was her reply.

They were both lying down on their separate beds when Hermione spoke up, breaking the silence, "Why were you so king all of a sudden?"

"I realized my mistake… just making up for it. Keep this low, Granger."

"I will. Goodnight."

"Goodnight as well."

She turned to face the wall. He straightened up to look at the ceiling. Eventually, they fell asleep. Smiles painted across their faces.

The next day, Hermione woke up at around eight o'clock. Thank heavens it was a Saturday. She has to do a research for her Potions Class, again. She went to the library after taking in breakfast. She concentrated so much on this topic. She had to get it right. She spent hours on the library. She ended up at around half past ten.

Hermione went back to the Head's Dorm. She lounged herself on the couch and started reading the Daily Prophet. On the coffee table that lay across her was the Golden Trio's Picture. She held it in her arms, reminiscing the past… and still holding on to it.

Dobby appeared out of the thin air.

"Good Morning, Master. Dobby came to give you your coffee."

"Thank you Dobby. May I remind you again, don't call me master… call me Hermione," Hermione stated, lowering down the picture.

Dobby looked at the picture intently before he said, "You miss Harry Potter, too?"

She gave a faint smile as he looked at his face. She hasn't seen that smile for quite a while already. "Yes Dobby. I do."

"I see. I miss Harry Potter, too. He was a kind master." He paused, "I shall leave Hermione now and come back for her mug later."

"Thank you." She replied. Dobby vanished.

"Good morning, Granger." Malfoy said, leaning on the hand rail (on the staircase).

"A good morning to you too," she replied, without looking at him.

"I overheard your conversation with the house elf." He said as he cascaded the stairs.

"Oh that…" She turned to look at him, then.

"So, you're the new 'master'?"

"Yes, as you have overheard." She replied, emphasizing on the word 'overheard'.

"And you-"

"-and I miss Harry so much, yes." She said, looking down on the picture.

"I did not want to seem rude or anything."

"I understand, but it is good you cleared things up. Are you heading down for breakfast?"

"As a matter of fact, I am. Would you care to join me?"

"I would have accepted your offer, but I have taken my breakfast already."

"Alright then, I will have to go down now. I'm hungry." He stated as he headed for the door and went to the Dining Hall.

He did not go back to the Dorm afterwards, but Hermione cared less. He's probably out there in Hogsmeade with Pansy… dating. The more she thought about Draco, the more that she remembered how she and Harry were. The days that they've spent out there in the field; the cold winter days wherein the snow covered the ground and they sat there, holding each other closely… it was impossible to forget these things.

It was already one o'clock. She was still stuck in her bedroom; trying to do some advanced reading on Defense Against the Dark Arts… the book was on her desk, opened. Yet she was there… lying down on her bed.

There was a knock on the door.

"Enter," she said.

"Hey Granger," Draco stated as he opened the door. He had papers in his hands.

He handed the papers to her.

"What's this??"

"It came from Longbottom. He said it's for your project."

"Oh, that project." She whispered, addressing it to no one in particular.

"Eaten your lunch yet??" He asked her.

"No, I still have to finish a lot of stuff for today."

"Loosen up a bit, Granger. You still have tomorrow to do all these things."

"Yeah, I know… but I'm resting the whole day tomorrow… to get energy for our training on Monday."

"Hectic schedule, huh?"

"Yeah… I wouldn't want to waste my energy tomorrow… then have nothing left for the training…"

"That's right. Anyway, I have to go now. I've got a date to catch up to."

"See you later, too. Enjoy."

"Yeah, I will."

He proceeded to the Hall.

Hermione sat by her desk as she thumbed the pages of her book carefully, taking in every single word. Yes, she was tired, but she can't give up now. She's never giving up.

Page 162… 163… 164… 165… 167…

She was already on page 168 when her stomach started grumbling.

"Oh crap." She thumbed through the pages again to check on how many more pages to go 'til the end of the chapter. "Thank heavens. Last four."

She turned to look at the clock. Quarter past two.

"Dobby," She called. With a snap of her finger, he came into sight.

"What can dobby do for Hermione? I shall do whatever she asks me to do-"

"Dobby… it's okay. I only need food. I'm starved."

"Oh, yes Hermione. Dobby will get you food." He vanished again.

"Thanks," she gasped. She's very thankful that she got a house elf.

After five minutes, Dobby reappeared.

"Here is your lunch, Hermione. Dobby is very glad to serve you."

"Thank you, Dobby. You may now take your rest."

He gave her a big grin and dissipated like vapor.

She ate up what Dobby had given her. When she had finished, she called Dobby again and resumed to her reading.

After then, she took a nap.

She woke up from her nap at around half past four. She was heading to the library to get some more details on her project with Neville.

After ten minutes, Neville approached her.

"Hey Hermione," Neville called, "I was looking for you all over. Malfoy said you were here."

'How did he know?" She whispered to herself, but then Neville answered it.

"He said he saw you heading for the library some five minutes ago…"

"Oh, alright," she gasped.

"I came here to tell you that there's no need on further researching 'bout the topic. I got things fixed just this morning."

"Alright then, I guess I will just have to back to the room. I'll catch you later… and thank you, as well."

"You helped more." She smiled before she bid him goodbye.

She sat down on her bed, thinking about what could happen hours from now… "What if the Death Mark comes now… when we are not yet prepared? How are we going to fight against them, when we only know simple spells? We could go crazy trying to kill Voldemort, but he could kill us with just one powerful spell… A lot of things could happen now. Now… when we are not expecting anything…" The thought was crazy… she knew. Hermione believed that the Dark Lord is also preparing for this Last Battle, and he can't just go and fight now. He is still weak… and so are they. She unexpectedly fell asleep. It was either she was tired, or she was bored.

CRACK!

It was that sound that woke her up.

"Bad Dobby, bad!" she heard Dobby saying it to himself. He punished himself by hitting his head on the post.

She got to her feet and stooped Dobby from hurting himself.

"Dobby forgot Hermione's plate and glass. Dobby bad, bad, bad!"

"No Dobby, It is okay… everyone forgets… there is no room for hurt in here, okay?"

"But Dobby woke Hermione up, too… I should be reprimanded." His big eyes looked at her.

"No, no. Actually, I would want to thank you. I have overslept. It is already quarter to seven… thank you, Dobby."

"So Dobby is a good elf?"

"Yes, Dobby is a good elf. Now get back to work." She tapped him on the head.

CRACK!

He was gone.